[JumpCrisscross]

> Dumbing down language is dumbing down period

I agree. But I don’t always see it as dumbing down. James Joyce’s Portrait starts out with a lot of nonsense, that doesn’t mean it’s dumb or dumbed down. It’s just communicating something that is best described that way. Even to an erudite audience.

I have expertise in some topics. I don’t think of communicating that in lay terms to be dumbing down. The opposite, almost: finding good analogies and expressing them clearly is a lot of fun, even if what comes out the other end isn’t particularly sophisticated.

[phs318u]

Totally agree. But I’m seeing (or more sensitive to) increasing cohorts that can’t string two words together to express a single thought coherently. There’s a difference between adapting language and use of linguistic tools (such as metaphors) versus semi-coherent blathering.

EDIT: spread > express Which may be a segue to a point regarding using corrective tools as a form of preemptive editing?